


No Matter What

by Wolflover21



Category: Voltron - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-02 17:12:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15800991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolflover21/pseuds/Wolflover21
Summary: Lance is an EMT, Keith is a 17 year old boy in high school with his older brother Shiro going through PTSD after getting abducted by evil aliens, who is turning to alcohol to solve his problems with his mental health. Without his parents in the picture, Keith has to juggle school, a job, and taking care of his brother. Will someone come along and help him?





	1. Dark before the Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Possible trigger warnings: PTSD, panic attacks, anxiety attacks
> 
> It's tense at first (bit of a slow-burn) but it gets super fluffy.

The night sky was dark purple like a bruise, the stars twinkling, making the wound look like it was festering, throbbing above the Kogane household, as if the sky was paralleling just how “well” the evening was going. 

Keith paced back and forth, his arms crossed over his chest, his purple eyes showing immense concern. The ambulance was parked in his driveway, having arrived slower for Keith’s standards, as he had to call 911 once a week. He glanced over at the ambulance, biting his lip nervously. The EMT was talking to one of his colleagues. While they continued to talk, one of them shut the ambulance doors and patted the back of the vehicle, signaling it to drive away, the siren blaring as it raced down the road toward the nearest hospital. 

Keith watched the two men talk, anxiously awaiting for a pause so that he could ask them what was going to happen to his brother, being unable to stand still. The two men were both decently tall. One had caramel-colored skin with deep blue eyes that relaxed you just by making eye contact. Keith had seen this man before several times when Shiro nearly drank himself to death. Glancing over he saw the man was wearing his ID and read it: Lance McClain. The two men parted ways and Keith took his chance.  
“So will my brother live?” Keith asked the blue eyed one, feeling like he had asked that question too many times.  
The man shook his head, putting his hands on his hips.  
“You know the drill, dude,” The man told him. “They’ll give him fluids and try their best to detox him from the overdose of alcohol. They’ll call you if they decide to hospitalize him.”  
“He’s not suicidal,” Keith protested pointedly, his voice louder than it should be for one o’clock in the morning. “Why would he need to be hospitalized?”  
“The hospitalization is to keep him from harming himself or others,” The EMT explained calmly, knowing by now how Keith reacted to treatment of his brother.  
“Has he ever tried to treat his PTSD?” The man inquired.  
“I’ve tried to get him to go but he always refuses.” Keith informed, frustration showing through.  
Lance sighed.  
“Understood. Maybe a parent can take him?”  
Keith looked shocked. How did Lance not know? He’d been around several times to pick up Shiro. Shiro was technically Keith’s guardian ‘cause he was still only 17. Their parents died on their jobs, they had no parents anymore.  
“My parents are gone. It’s just me and my brother.” Keith explained politely, biting back a sob at the mention of his parents.  
“Ah, okay. A hired escort if you want, someone like me but with proper training. Maybe get him to AA and go to some meetings yourself. I think showing him how his drinking affects you could really help get him on the right track.”

Keith had to admit that was a good plan.  
“Alright, I’ll try. Thanks.”  
Lance smiled at him, lingering on his purple eyes a moment before turning away, fishing around his pocket. He pulled out a piece of white paper with a phone number written on it in blue.  
“My phone number if you need any assistance.”  
Lance winked slyly, his professional demeanor changing to a flirty facade.  
“Seriously, even if you just need some emotional support, I wanna help you dude.”  
Keith’s head grew warm. It could have been from stress…or the fact that the cute EMT guy was giving him, a pretty much total stranger, direct access to contact him at any time. 

“T-Thanks.” Keith managed, probably sounding stupid. “I appreciate it.”  
“See ya around Keith.” Lance told him, getting into the second ambulance and taking off, the other guy in the driver’s seat.  
Keith visibly gushed as the man said his name, his voice almost sultry. The guy was definitely flirting with him.  
Those kinds of guys are flirting with anything that moves, Keith thought, putting himself down, depleting what could have been a genuinely deep connection between the two of them. There was no way he liked you that way. He was just doing his job.


	2. Friends are the Most Important Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some shit goes down with Shiro my dudes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a depiction of withdrawal symptoms that I am familiar with (not 1st person) and I may not portray it accurately, as everyone is different. But please be careful if physical abuse or depictions of alcohol abuse/withdrawal are triggering to you.  
> Enjoy <3

Chapter 2

Over the next couple of days, Shiro came home from the hospital and kept drinking despite Keith’s efforts to get him to stop or seek help for his addiction, and Keith kept juggling school and tried to text Lance for some emotional support. School was being exceptionally difficult lately. 

“Keith?” His math teacher had called on him to answer a question, jolting him out of his thoughts at home.  
“Uh, sorry…” Keith trailed off, not knowing what else to say, his mind elsewhere. The class started laughing at him. He was already pretty much a loner, so his brain only thinking about his problems at home wasn’t helpful. Someone tapped him on his shoulder and he turned to face a girl named Erica, one of the smartest students in the class.  
“Here, the equation is number 15: 4x+5=25, so what is x?” She coaxed him through the problem and he grinned at her in thanks.  
“Uh, x=5, Ms. Myers.” Keith answered shyly, flashing a smile toward Erica.  
“Well done, Keith.” Ms. Myers smiled. “Just focus on class alright?”  
Keith nodded. He knew that’s what he should be doing, but life was kind of crazy at the moment and he couldn’t really pay attention well enough to school. 

After class when everyone was heading home, Erica caught Keith as he left, hanging in the doorway to talk to her.  
“Hey, you okay Keith?” She inquired politely.  
Keith was caught off-guard. No one ever really cared for him, or seemed to stop and ask him what was going on.  
He felt tears rush to his eyes and tried to stifle them.  
“Hey, I’m sorry it’s just—you seem like a smart kid Keith. It seems unlike you to be so distracted. I didn’t mean to pry.” Erica’s eyes were darting away from him, but her voice showed genuine concern.  
“To be honest, I uh, it’s been rough since my parents died.”  
“Oh,” Erica replied, almost too briskly. “I’m…I’m sorry.”  
Everyone knew about his parents’ deaths two years ago, but all of them thought that his older brother/guardian was a good provider. If only they knew the truth.  
“It’s ok—you know it’s actually really not. I’ve been thinking of dropping out of school so I can do my afterschool job long-term and have enough to pay rent for our apartment—”  
“You can’t just give up on school, Keith. It’s important so you can go to college and have an actually lucrative career.”  
There she goes using big words, making me seem lesser than her.  
“You know I don’t really need to hear that sort of stuff from you.” Keith snapped, then apologized, realizing what he just did.  
“I’m sorry, sorry, just…thanks for helping me out today. I appreciate it.” Keith put the other strap of his backpack on his shoulder and walked off.  
“N-no problem.” Erica said quietly, although Keith probably didn’t hear her.  
Why was he being so irritable? He was being rude to everyone, even those trying to help him and his brother. Why was talking to people so fucking hard for him? He was too scared to really ask for help, but no one could read his mind and just know he needed help. 

After arriving home, he threw his phone on his bed and sat at his desk, working on his homework, but as usual not having any interest in continuing to try to focus on it.  
He glanced over at the phone on his bed, the screen shining from the light filtering into his room through his closed window. He thought about sending Lance a text, just to have someone he could talk to, now that he probably messed up having an actual friend at school once again. 

 

3:15 PM  
To Lance:

Sorry to bother you, just in need of mental stability. My brother went out and got hammered again and I had to help him through his hangover last night. He’s really irritable and wants to be alone but I’m worried about leaving him alone. I tried to make a friend today, and that was about as easy as paying for rent with no money. Hope all is well with you.

Keith sighed, falling on the bed on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He felt dumb for sending messages to this stranger, but not having any real friends since his family friends stopped coming around, Keith had no friends who stuck around. His life was too unpredictable, too insane for anyone reasonable to stick around. 

10 minutes later, his phone buzzed and he almost dropped his phone on his face in his haste to read the message. 

 

3: 25 PM  
To Keith:

Hey man, sorry you’re dealing with all that. I hope your job is at least treating you well? School is overrated, but friends are everything. If you ever need me to come over to help deal with your idiot brother, let me know. I’m pretty good with dealing with people with issues, it’s my job after all. And if no one else likes talking to you, just know that I do.  
-Lance

Lance seemed so sweet. He was already so comfortable with calling Keith’s brother an idiot. He has a point though. Every occasion he saw Shiro, he was somehow incapacitated. Lance talked like he had no cares in the world, like he’d figured everything out. Man, wouldn’t that be nice?

Keith felt a twinge of anger towards Lance, but it faded almost immediately. It wasn’t Lance’s fault Keith was in this situation. He sighed, before returning to his desk to get his work done. 

As Keith was finishing up his homework, he heard a large crash coming from downstairs. He let out a groan and stood to his feet, rushing down the carpeted stairs to the kitchen, trying to find the trace of the noise. It was Shiro. Of course.

Shiro was standing over the counter, drinking the last bit of alcohol he’d bought the other night. How he’d gotten it home on foot, Keith had no idea. He’d had to hide the keys to their car, including all the spares to keep Shiro from getting yet another DUI and hurting or even killing himself or others. Shiro finished the bottle then slammed the bottle on the counter angrily. Glass flung all over the counter and all across the floor in all directions.  
“Shiro!” Keith demanded. “What the fuck are you doing?”  
“There’s no alcohol anywhere.” Shiro replied, not answering Keith’s question. Shiro’s voice was angry and frustrated. He was panting and sweaty and stressed, showing real signs of withdrawal.  
“I know, man.” Keith hated talking to Shiro like he was a baby, but when Shiro was acting irrationally like this, it was better to act calm when speaking about a problem and tell him his feelings were valid.  
“We try not to have alcohol in the house, remember?” Keith answered him, trying to dispel the tense situation. Shiro let out a heavy sigh.  
“Why don’t you eat something instead?” Keith tried, as he inched forward to grab the broom and start cleaning up the glass.  
“I’m not hungry.” Shiro retorted sharply, acting like a toddler.  
“You gotta eat something, Shiro.” Keith told him.  
“Stop babying me. I’m the big brother, not you.” Shiro all but growled.  
“Then act like this.” Keith muttered, then regretted it.  
“What was that?” Shiro shouted, confronting Keith.  
“I just—I—“Keith stammered, panicking even though he knew Shiro wouldn’t hurt him, that this wasn’t normal Shiro, that Shiro was just high-strung and dealing with a lot.  
“What? Finish your sentence, Keith. What am not doing correctly, huh?”  
“I didn’t say—”  
“No, you hate me don’t you? You think I’m a burden don’t you?”  
Shiro was acting crazy and Keith was getting more and more terrified. This wasn’t his brother, not really. What had happened to his brother?  
“No Shiro I don’t think—”  
“Yes you do. You just don’t say it out loud!” Shiro was yelling now, pacing around the kitchen, ignoring the glass that started embedding themselves in his feet. It was like he couldn’t even feel the pain as blood started pouring out of the cuts on his feet.  
“Shiro that’s not—”  
“Stop lying to me!” Shiro screamed, lifting his hand into a fist and smacking it across Keith’s face.  
Keith gasped at the contact, shocked that his brother had actually hit him.  
Shiro’s dark eyes upon realizing what he’d done grew wide with worry.  
“Keith—” He began, but Keith was already getting up to leave. He rushed to his room, his vision blurry from tears as he packed up several clothes, his homework stuff and raced back down the stairs to the large white, wooden front door. All the while Shiro was urging him to stay, begging him. Keith ignored him.  
“Keith, please, bud.” Shiro pleaded, his eyes watery from crying. “Please don’t go, man. I’m sorry.”  
Keith’s eyes welled up and he attempted at wiping them away. Unable to speak, Keith opened the front door and slipped out into the darkened evening sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that craziness. I promise more is coming. i'm trying to finish this fic before I go back to college on september 1st so we'll see what i can do. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hope you enjoy the fic so far, I know it's kinda short. Any and all feedback on this or my other fics is greatly appreciated! Thank you! :)


End file.
